Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Evolution of the Black Quarterback’ on Prime Video, a Documentary Look At Some Of The NFL’s Greatest Game-Changers

It wasn’t long ago that the notion of a Black starting quarterback in the NFL was shocking to some. In The Evolution of the Black Quarterback , a new three-part documentary series on Prime Video , former NFL star Michael Vick reviews the history of Black athletes in American sports’ most celebrated position. He travels around the country, interviews athletes both current and former, and seeks to tell the story of one of the most enduring color barriers in sports.

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Opening Shot: We open on Super Bowl LVII, which–as a game announcer helpfully notes–marks the first time in history the NFL’s championship game will feature two Black starting quarterbacks (Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts). Narrator-slash-host Michael Vick intones: “History. Sometimes you don’t realize you’re living through it as it’s happening. Other times, it’s obvious… that moment hit me personally.” We then segue into a montage of historical footage and sound-bites–many of them offensive by today’s standards–of how Black athletes have been portrayed over the years.

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The Gist: Michael Vick is the primary narrator here, but a deep chorus of voices joins him here to tell the story of the Black quarterback’s evolution. There’s present-day stars like Jalen Hurts and familiar faces like former coach Tony Dungy, but also long-time retired players, academics, journalists, television personalities and more. It’s a thorough and thoughtful approach–it’s not just a single narrative, but an attempt to tell a full and complex story.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? This isn’t NFL Films, and it’s not Netflix’s Quarterback –it’s not a polished attempt to burnish the league’s image. It’s much more a documentary, and shows shades of recent films like Bill Russell: Legend or the Arthur Ashe-focused Citizen Ashe .

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Our Take: There’s a lot of NFL-focused content on streaming services these days, and a lot of it is heavily-polished, carefully-packaged advertisements for the league’s current dominance —think programs like Netflix’s aforementioned Quarterback , or Receiver .

In that context, you might be forgiven for expecting more of the same from the opening shot of The Evolution of the Black Quarterback , which takes us to Super Bowl LVII and the matchup between Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, two of the sport’s current biggest stars. That expectation is quickly subverted, though–this isn’t one of the NFL’s look-at-me-now programs, but a rather a thorough and thoughtful attempt to tell a comprehensive story.

There are names present-day NFL fans might recognize in the mix here, like former NFL star Warren Moon. There’s also a whole host of names the casual fan probably isn’t familiar with–people like Fritz Pollard, Willie Thrower, Choo Choo Brackins and Marlin Briscoe–the latter recognized as the first Black starting quarterback of the modern era for his stint leading the AFL’s Denver Broncos in 1968.

There’s a deep cast of journalists, academics and other figures from in and around the sport offering insight here, but it’s framed around former NFL superstar Michael Vick, who plays host and primary interviewer here. Vick excels in this role, his respect clearly evident for many of the older and less-familiar figures he speaks to about their roles in pushing against the NFL’s unspoken color barrier.

The nature of the challenge that Black quarterbacks faced takes up a good deal of the first episode’s runtime. It’s important for viewers to understand that while there might not have been an explicit racial barrier like the one that Jackie Robinson crossed in baseball, there was a deep bias against the abilities and intellect of Black athletes. As Hall of Fame coach and former college quarterback Tony Dungy reflects: “It wasn’t the type of thing where people said ‘we don’t want Black quarterbacks’, but it was always, ‘if your arm was a little stronger’, ‘if you stayed in the pocket a little more’, ‘you don’t fit our style’.” As he explains it, quarterbacks like he and Warren Moon faced a choice when graduating college: switch positions if they wanted to play in the NFL, or go play in Canada if they wanted to be a quarterback. Dungy chose the former, switching to defensive back, while Moon chose the latter, eventually fighting his way into NFL stardom.

The Evolution of the Black Quarterback doesn’t rush the story; it’s here to tell the whole story, and it’s refreshing that it takes the time to get it right.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: The first episode concludes with a lengthy interview between Vick and Doug Williams, who made history in Super Bowl XXII as the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl, leading Washington to a title. Williams reflects on the difficult path he took to reach that moment, and how he felt when the moment finally arrived. “The impact of a Black man getting a chance to start in the Super Bowl, win the Super Bowl and MVP… if they write a story on the National Football League, could they leave you out of it? No. That’s the impact.” As Vick notes: “You can break the history of the NFL down into two eras: Before Doug Williams, and After Doug Williams.”

Sleeper Star: Vick provides a familiar face at the center of this story, but the real strength of The Evolution of the Black Quarterback is the comprehensiveness of its approach. A lot of people show up here, from former stars like Rodney Peete to TV figures like Larry Wilmore and academics like USC professor Dr. Todd Boyd. One fun surprise appearance comes from rapper Common, who helps Vick explain the importance of historically-black colleges in Black quarterbacks proving their abilities.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Philly will always be a special place to me,” Vick notes, watching a Philadelphia Eagles home game from a suite, reflecting on his return to football after serving 21 months in federal prison for dog-fighting. “That’s where I got a second chance to show what I could do. And that’s really the story of the Black quarterback–somebody gets a chance, and that changes everything. But to understand how we got here, we have to take it back to the beginning.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. The story of the Black quarterback isn’t ancient history–it’s still being told, and The Evolution of the Black Quarterback is a thoughtful, thorough attempt to tell that story.

Scott Hines, publisher of the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter , is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky.

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